Casey Arborway

If there were an official Casey Arborway project historian Jamaica Plain's Clay Harper would probably fill the role. Instead he'll have to settle for spectacularly documenting the project from its start in 2014 to today with close to 500 photos and a blog. After supporting the surface option for the Casey Arborway project (instead of putting up another bridge), Harper decided to document the project. "I'm a close neighbor and walk through the full project area three or more times a week for exercise. As someone who participated in the planning and the public debate (eventually as an unaffiliated advocate) I had a deep immersion in the details -- everything from DOT planning presentations to the underlying traffic data to the 400+ pages of bid drawings," said Clay Harper to Jamaica Plain News.

Nighttime paving for the Casey Arborway project is beginning the week of May 28h and is expected to last approximately four weeks. The MassDOT’s contractor for the Casey Arborway Project, Barletta Heavy Division, will be paving project wide west (towards the Arnold Arboretum) of the West Roxbury District Courthouse. Paving will begin at 8 pm with all lanes being returned to normal by 6 am the next morning. Work will also include the placement of final pavement markings and thermoplastic markings for roadway striping, crosswalks and more will be placed seven days after pavement has been laid. Green bicycle crossings will be placed 30 days after pavement has been laid.

Work on the Casey Arboway Project continues with landscaping being added (often a sign of a project nearing an end) and the new upper busway canopy is closer to being installed. Keep in mind that work is highly weather dependent, but will continue on all day, except Sunday, with suitable conditions to allow construction to progress. Here is a 3-week look back and a 3-week lookahead provided by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT):

Since March 5th to March 23rd the project has:

Advanced work in both the northern (towards Green Street) and southern (towards Roslindale Square) Forest Hills Station plazas;
Continued construction of bicycle and pedestrian facilities project wide;
Continued finalization of signal operations project wide; and,
Completed work on the foundations for the new upper busway canopy. Motorists are reminded that eastbound (towards Franklin) and westbound (towards the Arboretum) left turns off the Arborway at the intersections of South Street/Arborway and Washington Street/Arborway are now permanently prohibited. These movements will now be permanently handled by the eastern and western median U-turns. The only exception to this is the westbound left turn at Arborway/Washington Street which is available to general purpose traffic as directed by the electric sign mounted on the signal controlling the Arborway westbound approach. Drivers of private cars using this left turn when the approach is signed for buses only may be subject to fines and assigned moving violations. During the week of March 26th work will address the following:

Around the intersection of Arborway/Washington Street:

Paving, striping, and installation of curb for the third westbound (towards the Arboretum) approach lane at the intersection of Arborway/Washington Street.

It's time for another update about the Casey Arborway Project! Remember everything is weather dependent -- so if there's a snowstorm, tsunami, monsoon or bomb cyclone, these plans will be altered. Click here for more coverage of the Casey Arborway Project by Jamaica Plain News. This information is all provided by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. There will be signage to guide drivers during the following changes and drivers who must travel through the affected area should remain aware of updated traffic patterns, reduce speeds and use caution. Starting at 10 am on Friday, January 26, crews will shift traffic in Jamaica Plain so that the westbound Arborway will be in its final alignment between South and Washington Street.

Come Friday at 10 am crews will start the process of shifting the eastbound side of Arborway into its final alignment between South and Washington streets as part of the Casey Arborway project. And by the middle of January, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) crews expect to begin the process to shift the westbound Arborway, which carries traffic headed towards the Arnold Arboretum, into its final alignment. Keep in mind that the schedule will be impacted by weather conditions "as well as coordination and accommodations with key stakeholders," according to a MassDOT press release. There will be signage to guide drivers during the final alignment period. The following information was provided by MassDOT:

Once the eastbound Arborway is shifted into its final alignment the following changes will go into effect:

Eastbound traffic will be discontinued on New Washington Street
Eastbound left turns to go from the Arborway to Washington Street northbound (towards the Green Street orange line station) will be prohibited at the intersection of Arborway/Washington Street
Drivers seeking to make the left turn described above will:

Continue through the intersection;
Proceed to the eastern median U-turn;
Reverse direction using the median U-turn;
Proceed to the intersection of Arborway/Washington Street and turn right onto Washington Street northbound. Once the westbound Arborway is shifted into its final alignment the following changes will go into effect:

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ABOUT JAMAICA PLAIN NEWS

Jamaica Plain News is an independent online news source and community platform for the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

Our publisher David Ertischek has been a community journalist for more than 18 years. He has been the editor and reporter for local newspapers and websites. He has lived in Jamaica Plain since 2002. His favorite thing about Jamaica Plain is the Arnold Arboretum.